Teen soap star in rape trial: 'sex was consensual'

A teenage television soap actor accused of raping a 14-year-old boy to prove to his girlfriend he was bisexual today told a court that the sex had been consensual.

The actor, then 15, denied he forced the fellow stage school pupil to perform oral sex on him at the Wimbledon Theatre in southwest London.

He also dismissed allegations that he dragged the 14-year-old into a stairwell the following day and raped him in front of his girlfriend.

The defendant, who is now 17 and cannot be named for legal reasons, is accused of raping and molesting the boy between July and September 2010.

On allegations that he had forced the victim to perform oral sex, he said that no violence or coercion of any kind had been used.

He said the alleged assault in the stairwell was sparked by his girlfriend.

He said that his girlfriend did not believe the pair were having a bisexual relationship and that he had been embarrassed and upset to be performing a sex act with a boy in front of his girlfriend.

He said she gave him a hug and said "forget about it".

The accused, who cried during his evidence, said that he had been "bi curious" and that he and the alleged victim had previously exchanged texts with pictures of their genitalia.

He said he was curious about his sexuality.

The court today also heard evidence from a student friend of the alleged victim.

He described an incident in which the accused shouted at the alleged victim: "Anything that happened between us you wanted to happen too."

During the row, the student told the jury the soap star punched his alleged victim in the face.

Earlier in the case Prosecutor Timothy Forster said the abuse started with a series of explicit text messages after the actor revealed his sexuality to the victim while they worked on a show.

The following day, in July 2010, while the alleged victim was preparing costumes in the gods of the theatre, he was dragged into a closed-off staircase and sexually assaulted, the court heard.

A second assault was alleged to have taken place at the pupils’ stage school. Following a confrontation in the school’s changing rooms, teachers began to investigate and eventually the case was passed to police.

The actor, from Surrey, pleaded not guilty to rape and sexual assault in July 2010 and two counts of sexual assault in September 2010.